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Smorgasbord Short Stories – The Easter Eggs by Sally Cronin

Lily dusted off her hands. They had been covered in soil from planting the three little primulas that she and her mother had picked up at the nursery today. Her mother always let Lily pick the colours and this year the purple petals with their golden centres danced in the soft evening breeze. She picked up her small watering can and gently moistened around the base of the plants like her mum had shown her.

“There you go Daddy, I promise to look after them all summer, watering them every day and picking off the dead flowers to let others grow like mum showed me.”

It was Easter and tomorrow, Lily and her little brother Michael would race around the house looking for the small cream eggs that her mother had bought at the supermarket yesterday. Both of them were very excited and it was really the first year that her brother understood what the egg hunt was all about. Mum said that three each was more than enough especially as they were going to the dentist soon for a check-up.

However, the real prize was the two large chocolate eggs that were hidden in very special places. In her father’s wardrobe perhaps, or his study where he would read them a story before they went up to bed, or even the garden shed that her mum laughingly called his man cave.

The next day Lily and Michael got up early and began searching the house. It took them an hour to find the six small creamy eggs and by the time they had rushed into the kitchen to show off their finds, two of them had already been eaten. Their mother looked at the smeared evidence of their successful hunt around their mouths and took the remainder off them for later.

“You need to eat your breakfast and then you can find the other eggs, I am going to hide them now so no peeking”.

The children hurriedly ate their bowls of cereal and drank their juice eager to get on with the hunt. After about ten minutes their mother returned to the kitchen and clapped her hands.

“Okay, let’s see how quickly you can find the big prizes”.

Lily took their dishes to the sink and the two children ran off hand in hand heading for their father’s study to continue the search.

They found one egg after about five minutes. It was beneath the big oak desk in a waste basket hidden by some crumpled paper. There was a card attached to the egg with ‘Michael’ written in big letters and he clasped the colourful box in his small hands as they raced from one room to the other. Finally they gave up on the house and headed out to the garden shed. There hidden under a cloth in a large plant pot sat a beautiful egg nestled in its packaging with a note perched beside it.

“The flowers are beautiful Lily and your daddy’s favourite colours”

From the kitchen window their mother saw her nine year old daughter lead her brother up the path to the house. Michael was clasping his egg to his chest and beaming from ear to ear. Lily looked up as they entered the kitchen and smiled gently at her mother as a look of understanding passed between them.

That night Lily placed the egg on her bedside cabinet next to the photograph of her daddy in his army uniform surrounded by other men in his team. He was smiling and looked happy. It was the last picture taken of him two years ago and Lily stared at it for a long time before switching off her light.

Tomorrow the Easter egg would join the other one on the shelf in her wardrobe and would never be eaten.

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About Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life.

My name is Sally Cronin and I am doing what I love.. Writing. Books, short stories, Haiku and blog posts. My previous jobs are only relevant in as much as they have gifted me with a wonderful filing cabinet of memories and experiences which are very useful when putting pen to paper. I move between non-fiction health books and posts and fairy stories, romance and humour. I love variety which is why I called my blog Smorgasbord Invitation and you will find a wide range of subjects. You can find the whole story here.
Find out more at https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/about-me/

72 thoughts on “Smorgasbord Short Stories – The Easter Eggs by Sally Cronin”

Sally, this a piece that just ‘got me.’ I could kind of see that Daddy wasn’t around but that was fine because you built to that moment where that wasn’t actually the punch line and that made it more powerful. Great work. Happy Easter to you.

Nothing recycled about this story. It reads fresh as a pansy (or primula): vibrant, sweet, nostalgic, and I had a feeling about the end, which produced non-recycled tears. Beautiful story, Sally. Happy Easter. xo

Sally what a wonderful graceful story. You do it every time. You lead us in, so we sort of know what to expect but we are never ready for that double whammy that hits right in the heart. You are an incredibly gifted writer. It is a joy to read you.

Sally I had to wait a good three minutes to allow my eyes to clear. And the lump is still hard within my throat.. How many more Daddy’s must there be until we really get the Easter Message..

Brilliantly told Sally and I have to stop calling by our mutual friends and follow you.. Can not promise to catch each post but I will surely try.. 🙂
Have a peaceful rest to the week.. As we send out our Love and Peaceful vibes into the world.. xxx ❤

I am still playing catch up, Sally, so I am only now reading your charmingly poignant Easter story. I hope you had a marvelous Easter, and thank you for sharing this particular Easter story to remind us all to be grateful for family and pray for Peace.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to transform a world!”